On Tue, Aug 21, 2007 at 06:00:24PM +0200, Bastian Blank wrote:
> Hi folks
>
> I think its another time to reconsider the available i386 images.
>
> Currently we build:
> - 486
> - 686
> - 686-bigmem
> - k7
> - amd64
>
> I propose the following:
> - Rename 686-bigmem to 686-pae. pae is more than support for much
> memory, it includes things like NX.
> - Drop k7.
>
> Are there any usable benchmarks available about the PAE enabled or k7
> optimization?
Can you clarify the reason for the PAE benchmarks? Are you considering
dropping the -686 flavour as well? Since PAE-enabled kernels may not
work on all currently installed -686 systems[1], I can only see this
working reliably by transitioning -686 systems to -486 images.
If that's the case, then the valuable benchmarks are:
* 486 vs. 686 kernel on 686-capable systems
* 486 vs. 686 vs. k7 on k7-capable systems.
Right? Or are you wanting to see PAE vs. non-PAE on systems with <=
4G?
[1] At least, there's a note in Kconfig that says:
'NOTE: If you say "64GB" here, then the kernel will not boot on
CPUs that don't support PAE!'
--
dann frazier